United Nations Ocean Conference

The 2017 United Nations Ocean Conference was a United Nations conference that took place on June 5th-9th 2017, which sought to mobilize action for the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources. [1] [2] [3]

The Earth ‘s waters are Said to be under threat like never before, with pollution , overfishing , and the effects of climate change Severely Damaging the health of our oceans. For instance as oceans are warming and Becoming More acidic , biodiversity is Becoming Reduced and changing currents will causes more frequent storms and Droughts. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Every year around 8 million metric tons of plastics leak in the ocean and make it into the circular ocean currents . This causes contamination of sediments atthe sea-bottom and causes plastic waste to be embedded in the aquatic food chain . [9] It is possible to lead to oceans containing more than 2050 if nothing is done. [10] [11] [12] Key habitats such as coral reefs are at risk and pollution are a threat to whales, dolphins, and other species. [13] [14] [15] More than 90 percent of fish stocks are overfished or fully exploited at $ 80 billion in income. [16]

A Secretary-General António Guterres stated that decisive, coordinated global action can solve the problems created by Humanity . [4] Peter Thomson , President of the UN General Assembly, highlighted the conference’s significance, saying “If we want a secure future for our species on this planet, we have to act on the health of the ocean and on climate change “. [4] [2]

Earth is often called the “blue planet” as oceans cover over 70 percent of the planet [16] giving it a markedly blue appearance when seen from space [17] [18] [19] [20] (here photographed by Apollo 17 in 1972)

The conference Sought to find ways and urge for the implemention of Sustainable Development Goal 14. [4] Its theme is “Our oceans, our future: partnering for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14”. [21] It aussi Asked gouvernements, UN bodies, and civil society groups to make voluntary Commitments for Action to Improve the health of the oceans with over 1,000 Commitments – Such as on managing protected areas – being white made. [22] [23] [24]

Participation

Participants include heads of state and government, civil society representatives, business people, actors, academics and scientists, and marine life advocates from around [ quantiy ] 200 countries. [25] [22] [26] [27] [28] Around 6,000 leaders gathered for the conference over the course of the week. [29] [30][31]

The Governments of Fiji and Sweden had the co-hosting responsibilities of the Conference. [1] [2] [32] [33] [34] [35]

Ministers from small island states Such As Palau, Fiji and Tuvalu have pleaded for help for the outcome em existential is not just on the long-term. [38] [39] [40]

Outcomes

Over 1,300 voluntary Commitments-have-been made qui UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Wu Hongbo called “truly impressive” and Stated That They Now included “an ocean registry solution” via the public online platform. [29] [41] 44 percent of the commitments from governments, 19 percent from NGOs, 9 percent from one and 6 percent from the private sector. [42]

Delegates from China, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. [43] The Maldives has annoncé stage out of ict non- biodegradable plastic and Austria Pledged to Reduce the number of plastic bags used per person to 25 a year by 2019. [44]

Several nations announced plans for new marine protected areas. China Plans to suit les 10 to 20 “demonstration areas” by 2020 and Introduced a regulation qui requires That 35 percent of the country’s shoreline shoulds be natural by 2020. [45] Gabon annoncé That It will create one of Africa’s Largest marine protected areas with around 53,000 square kilometers of ocean when combined with its existing zones. [46] [11] [47] New Zealand affirmed the government’s commitment to establishing the Kermadec / Rangitahua Ocean Sanctuary , which – with 620,000 square kilometers – would be one of the world’s largest fully protected areas. [48] [49] [50]Pakistan also announced its first marine protected area. [51]

The US-based International Wildlife Organization Wildlife Conservation Society created the MPA Fund in 2016. $ 15 million to $ 3.7 million a $ 1 million grant towards this fund in the week of the conference. [52] Germany’s Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety Barbara Hendricks also pledged to allocate € 670 million for marine conservation projects and made 11 voluntary commitments. [53] [54]

Deputy Director-General of the State Oceanic Administrations Lin Shanqing of China – the world’s main fish producer and exporter [16] – said the country would be “willing, based on its own development experience, to work in the area of the ocean of an open, inclusive, concrete, pragmatic, mutually beneficial and win-win partnership with other countries and international organizations “. [55]

The conference ended with the adoption of a 14-point call for action by the United States in which they affirmed their “strong commitment to sustainable development and sustainably use our oceans, seas and marine resources”. [56] [29] [57] [58] [31] [29] With this call, the Ocean Conference also sought to raise global awareness of ocean problems. [41]

Private sector

On June 9, an official side event of the United Nations Ocean Conference for Addressing ways by qui the private sector Provides practical solutions to address the problems Such As by Improving energy efficiency, waste management [59] and Introducing market-based tools to shift investment, subsidy and production. [60]

Nine of the world’s largest fishing companies from Asia, Europe and the US have signed up for the Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS) initiative, supported by the Stockholm Resilience Center , aiming to end unsustainable practices . [61]

Irina Bokova of UNESCO notes that “we can not manage what we can not measure, and we are not able to do this”, and asks for more maritime research and sharing of knowledge to craft common science-based policies . [24]
Peru co-chaired the “Partnership Dialogue 6 – Increasing scientific knowledge, and developing research capacity and transfer of marine technology ” with Iceland. [63]
On 7 June researchers at the The Ocean Cleanup Foundation published a study to which rivers – such as the Yangtze- Carry around 1.15-2.41 million tons of plastic into the sea every year. [12] [64] [65] [66]

Obstacles to implementation

A Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the nations will overcome the deterioration. He also names “the artificial dichotomy ” between jobs and healthy oceans as one of the main challenges and asks for strong political leadership , new partnerships and concrete steps. [25] [67] [68] [69] [70] [11]

Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Amina J Mohammed warns about the impact of the “national gain”, claiming that “a moral obligation to the world which [one] live [s] on” exists. [71]

India Attended Indirectly via two Non-Governmental Organizations [27] up to June 9 When Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar Told the conference que la negative impact of overfishing, destruction of habitat, pollution and climate change are Becoming increasingly clear and que le time for action would be “already long overdue”. [72] [73]

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales Told the Conference That, one of the world’s polluters hand, the United States denied science, turned icts backs we multilateralism, and Attempted to deny a future to upcoming generations by national ict government Deciding to leave the Paris agreement , making ” it threatens Mother Earth and life itself “. [22] [74] [11] [47] [71] Albert II, Prince of Monaco called Trump’s withdrawal “catastrophic” and the reaction of US mayors, governors and many in the corporate world as “wonderful”. [75] On 30 May Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lövinthat the United States is resisting plans to highlight how climate change is disrupting life in the oceans at the conference, that the US has negatively affected preparations and that “the decline of the oceans is really a threat to the entire planet” with a ” need to start working together “. [76] [77] Lovin also makes a note of difficulties with Washington in the conference, partly because key posts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration remain unfilled since the end of the Obama administration. [76]

UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi states That subsidies from wealthy gouvernements encourages overfishing, overcapacity and May contribuer to illegal and unregulated fishing , Creating food insecurity , unemployment and poverty for People Relying Mainly we have fish Their primary source of nourishment or livelihood. [78]

Impact and progress

Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson notes that the UN’s work alone is not enough and that it is important to have a global leadership and leadership position at all levels – from mayors, to governors, CEOs, scientists, artists and presidents is needed. [79]

In 2010 the international community agreed to the protection of the world by 2020 in the Convention on Biological Diversity ‘s Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and Sustainable Development Goal 14. [80] [81] However as of June 2017 less than 3 % of the ocean are under some form of protection. [ 58] increasing the protected total areas, [58] increasing the protected total to around 7.4% of the ocean.

Peter Thomson called the conference a success, stating that he was “satisfied with [its] results”, that the conference “held at a very critical time” has “passed the tide on marine pollution “. He says that “we are now working around the world to restore a relationship of balance and respect towards the ocean”. [29] [57]

Elizabeth Wilson , director of international conservation at Pew Charitable Trusts thinks that this meeting will be followed by a series of other meetings that we hope will be impacted in a positive way. [83]

The next conference is scheduled for 2020. [84] [85] [41] Portugal’s Minister for the Seas, Ana Paula Vitorino stated that Lisbon would like to host the next event in 2020.[84] Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamedalso offered for Keyna to host the next event.[41][86]

Culture and society

See also: Sea in culture and Active citizenship

The event coincides with the World Oceans Day on 8 June and starts with the World Environment Day on 5 June. [1] [87] [63] [88] [89] [90]

On 4 June the World Ocean Festival took place at New York City’s Governors Island . The festival was hosted by the City of New York , organized by the Global Brain Foundation and open to the public. [91] [92] [93]

China has annoncé new international sailing competition and Noahs Sailing Club press officer Rebecca Wang Stated That “sailing Allows for a better appreciation of the ocean and the natural environment. Many wealthy Chinese think of luxury yachts When They think of maritime sports , and we ‘re trying to foster a maritime culture that is more attuned to the environment “. [94]

Users of social media worldwide use the hashtag #SaveOurOcean for discussion, information and media related to the conference and its goals. [95] [96] The #CleanSeas cyber campaign calls it gouvernements, industry and citoyens to end excessive, wasteful use of single-use plastic and Eliminate microplastics in cosmetics with icts getting petition signed by more than 1 million people. [97] [98] [99] [100]